magniwork - wind turbines

8/8/2019 Magniwork - Wind Turbines

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Magniwork Wind Turbines


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Table of ContentsGrid Systems .................................................................................................................................... 6

Portable Power Source System ................................................................................................... 7

Grid-Intertied Power Source System ........................................................................................... 8

Grid-intertied solar power system with battery backup ............................................................. 9

Off Grid Power System .............................................................................................................. 10

The Units of the System ............................................................................................................ 11

Array DC Disconnect: ............................................................................................................. 11

Charge Controller: ................................................................................................................. 11

Deep Cycle Battery: ............................................................................................................... 12

System Meter: ....................................................................................................................... 12

Main DC Disconnect: ............................................................................................................. 13

Inverter: ................................................................................................................................. 13

Gas Powered Generator: ....................................................................................................... 14

AC Breaker Panel: .................................................................................................................. 14

Grid: ....................................................................................................................................... 15

Household: ............................................................................................................................ 15

Legal: ..................................................................................................................................... 15

Wind Turbines ............................................................................................................................... 16

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 16

Needed Materials for the Wind Turbine ................................................................................... 17

DC Power Motor .................................................................................................................... 18

Tower for Wind Turbine ........................................................................................................ 19

Rotor Blades .......................................................................................................................... 19

Building a Wind Turbine ............................................................................................................ 20

Constructing the Blades ........................................................................................................ 20

The Hub ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Balancing the blades and hub ................................................................................................... 24

Mounting the Hub with the Blades on the Shaft ...................................................................... 25

The Axis ..................................................................................................................................... 26


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Chapter:GridSystems

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DISCLAIMER

Please take care when working on any of the projects

outlined within this manual. By reading this manual you

agree to that you are responsible for your own actions.

Magniwork will not be held accountable for any loss or

injuries.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Chapter:GridSystems

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Grid Systems

The following systems represent how you connect theexternal power supply to your house or grid. In the

diagrams we are refereeing to the energy source a bit

vaguely because the same system that is presented could

be used for variety of power sources. By power sources we

mean Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, and Energy Generators.

As for how you will build your Solar System and WindTurbine will get to it after this.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Portable Power Source System

1 Power Source; 2 Charge Controller; 3 Battery; 4 Inverter; 5 Household

This is the simplest system there is, it is great for

outdoor use or alternatively for your garage or shed. With

this system you can run appliances straight through the

inverter.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Grid-Intertied Power Source System

1 Power Source; 2 Array DC disconnect; 3 Inverter; 4 AC Breaker panel;

5 Household; 6 Kilowatt per hour meter; 7 Grid

This is the system that you will most likely use in the

beginning. This system is known as grid tied, or on grid.

The key feature about this system is: if more electricity is

produced by your solar system or wind turbine compared

to what is used by the household, than the system will

start turning the electric meter backwards. When thathappens, credits will be added to your account which you

can use for periods when you produce less electricity. You

should consult your Electricity Provider for more

information concerning net billing or net metering.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Grid-intertied solar power system with battery backup

1 Power Source; 2 Array DC disconnect; 3 Charge Controller; 4 Deep cycle

battery; 5 System meter; 6 Main DC disconnect; 7 Inverter; 8 AC Breaker

panel; 9 Kilowatt per hour meter; 10 Grid; 11 Household

This system grid tied like the previous one but the key

difference between this one and the previous is, this one

has battery backup. The battery backup will be used when

its going to be cloudy or you are doing maintenance tothe solar panels.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Off Grid Power System

1 Power Source; 2 Array DC disconnect; 3 Charge Controller; 4 Deep cycle

battery; 5 System meter; 6 Main DC disconnect; 7 Inverter; 8 Generator; 9

AC Breaker panel; 10 Household

This system is off-grid, meaning you are not using

even 1% electricity from a power company. In this setup

you should also have a backup generator such as a gaspower generator.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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The Units of the System

Array DC Disconnect:

DC Disconnect is used in the system, so you can shut

of the system much safer and easier. The reason for

shutting off the system would be mainly maintenance.

Charge Controller:

The charge controller as the name implies is used to

protect the battery from overcharging. When the battery

bank is fully charged in order to protect it from

overcharging the charge controller will interrupt the

charging process.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Deep Cycle Battery:

This is the battery you will use in your system once

you build the full scale generator. If you cannot afford abrand new battery, you can get on the cheap from old golf

cart or forklift.

System Meter:

The system meter is used to monitor how efficient

the system is, in other words you can monitor how much

power is being used at anytime and how full your battery

bank is.


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Main DC Disconnect:

The main DC disconnect is used for disconnecting the

Inverter for maintenance or emergency situations.

Inverter:

The Inverter is used to invert the direct current or DC

into alternating current or AC. This conversion is need

since most appliances in the house use AC.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Gas Powered Generator:

If you are implementing complete off grid system,

you should have Gas Powered Generator. There might be

situation when you want to shut down your system for

maintenance, during those situations you will use this

generator.

AC Breaker Panel:

The AC Breaker panel is where all the electrical wiring

is connected with your power provider. This panel is

usually found in a utility room, garage, or outside the

building.


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Chapter:GridSystems

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Grid:

The main power line that comes to your house that

comes from the power company is called Grid. The term

Off Grid refers that you are energy independent from the

power supply company.

Household:

When we referred in the previous diagrams to the

household, we meant the household loads. This consists of

everything that is connected to the breaker panel.

Legal:

Be aware each state and country has different

standards for connecting alternative energy source to the

AC panel. Also in most countries it is illegal to open this

box by yourself, unless you are qualified electrician.

We recommend that you contact your power supply

company concerning this issue and do not take matters in

to your own hands before you do that.

If you do not want to connect your system to the

breaker panel, you can run appliances just from the

inverter which is much easier and cheaper option.


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Chapter:WindTurbines

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Wind Turbines

Introduction

Wind turbines are another resource for alternative

energy that you can utilize and build you self. A wind

turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic

energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the

mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the

machine is called a wind generator.

Commercially available wind turbine sufficient

enough to supply average sized home with energy cost

from $5000 to $20 000. With such a wind generator you

can expect power bill reduction from 50% to 90%, with this

in mind the wind generator will pay for itself after 7 to 15

years. You can build a wind turbine for around $200, butfirst you should check the following numbers.

In order to get sufficient power from your wind

turbine you want the average wind speed in your area to

be at least 10mph, anything less than this wind turbine

wouldnt make much sense.


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Needed Materials for the Wind Turbine

Unlike the previous project, this one is easier to

make, for the ones that hate soldering the good news here

is that there will be almost no soldering at all.

The materials needed for this project will cost you

around $150 you will be able to find most of them on EBay

and at your local hardware store. The wind turbine we

are going to build will produce around 500watts, and

will have blade diameter of 4ft. For such a output we

will need wind speeds at around 20mph.

Part: Origin: Price:

DC Power Motor EBay $40

Pipe for blades Home Depot $20

Misc hardware Home Depot $8Conduit Home Depot $19.95

Rope Home Depot $6

Hub Junk Yard $5


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DC Power Motor

The DC Power Motor is the main component in this

project, just like the solar cells in the previous one. The DC

Motor is the one here producing energy. The principles

behind it are very simple, in most applications where it is

used it uses energy in order to spin, but if you spin the

same motor in the opposite direction it will produce

energy, and the very same energy will go back through the

wires where the power use to get from.

The DC Motor needed for this project needs to have

high Voltage, High Current and low RPM rating. The reason

for the low RPM is, we want to spin it over the rated RPM

in order to achieve the rated voltage.

The best place to look for DC motor is EBay, and it will

cost you from $30 to $50. The prices recently are going up

for this type of motors since the sellers learned that


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people use them for wind generators and therefore need

them, on the good note on most products that are good

for wind generators the seller is saying so. Single advice for

buying motors from EBay is, buy only from reputable

sellers.

If you need more help choosing the right motor for

youCLICK HERE.

Tower for Wind Turbine

For the tower you have great variety of what you can

use. You can use a pipe that is 4-5 thick and about 10ft

tall which can be very easily anchored to the ground.

Rotor BladesThe rotor blades will be constructed from a PVC or

ABS pipe which will be around 8 and 13 in diameter. If

you aim for 500 watt of energy, you will need 3 blades

while each blade measures at around 2ft which in turn the

diameter is 4ft, and you will need wind speeds at around

20mph. If you dont have space for such a big wind

generator, scale down the blades as much as the suite you.
http://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htmhttp://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htmhttp://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htmhttp://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htm


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Building a Wind Turbine

Constructing the Blades

As I said earlier this project will deal with a windgenerator that has its blades 8ft in diameter, but you can

scale down the blades so it suites your needs.

After you acquire PVC pipe which has from 8 to 13

diameter cut it in quarters as represented in the diagram

below.

After you cut the pipe in to 4 separate pieces, you canalready see the blades coming along. Now from these 4

pieces we will fabricate 3 blades. The next figures will be

represented for a 10 pipe so you can easily calculate the

difference if you are using different size of pipe.


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For a 10 pipe, the quarter of the pipe you have, you

will cut it so at the hub is 7 and at the tip 5, for reference

take a look at the diagram below.

After you have cut the blade as represented inthe diagram below, you will need to make one more

cut on the side and drill two holes. This cut is

necessary so the blade can be attached to the hub.

Follow the diagram below as a reference.


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Now the blade is almost done, all you are left to

do is, take a sand paper and smoothen the edge of

blade so it can cut through the wind more easily, and

at the same time it will make the wind generatormore efficient.

After you are done with the first blade, repeat

the same process for the other 2 blades. In the end

paint the blades with protective UV coating, since the

PVC pipe is expected to be used indoors or

underground.

The HubThe hub is the center piece of your wind turbine.

The hub will transfer the kinetic energy from the

blades to the generator.

Before you start constructing a hub, you can get

one for a small price at your local hardware store or junk yard. The most important thing about the hub

is, it should fit very tightly on the DC motor shaft in

order to turn the motor without loss of power.


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All you need to do on the hub for now is drill a

hole at the dead center, the size of the hole should

be exactly the same as the shaft of the motor. In

case the hole on the hub is not in the dead center,

when the blades start spinning the whole turbine will

shake and rumble wildly, that mechanical stress

might take the whole wind turbine down and possibly

injure someone.

After you drill the hole on the hub, you will needto attach your blades on the hub equally spaced at

120 degrees.


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Balancing the blades and hub

We have already said you need to balance the hub

and blades, in order to make the wind generator more

efficient, and produce the expected output. Furthermore if

the blades and hub are not balanced, they will almost

certainly destroy the motor over time.

The method for balancing out the blades and hub is

very simple. The first thing you need to do is label every

single blade, than put the blades with the hub on a pole.

Now give the blades a spin and write down which blade

ended on the bottom. Now give the blades another spin

with approximately the same force and write down again

which blade ended on the bottom. Repeat this process 10

to 15 times, and if most of the times there is only one

blade ending on the bottom, that blade is most likely

heavier compared to the other 2.

In order to balance the blade now, all you need to do

is shave a little bit from the metal bars that are holding the

blade to the hub. Than repeat the process of spinning the

blades, and see the result.


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Mounting the Hub with the Blades on the Shaft

Now you have your blades and hub balanced, all you

are left to do is mount the hub on the shaft. This part is

important since the hub should not shake or slide back and

forth on the shaft, so it needs to be tightly secured.

First put the hub on the shaft and push it as far as

possibly you can. The next step you should take is, drill a

hole through the shaft as far down as possible. After you

drill the hole, put a bolt through it in order to secure the

hub on to the motor.

Now you have a working wind generator, but we are

not done, we should make few more modifications in

order for the wind generator to follow the direction of the

wind, because now the generator is stationary.

NOTE: Do not take the wind turbine in your hands and

point it towards the wind to see how it will spin, since the

wind turbine might start spinning very fast and injure you.


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The Axis

As I said earlier the only thing we are left to construct

is the axis, and the tail. The axis is needed in order for the

wind turbine to turn and face the wind at all times. But the

problem is that we dont want the wind turbine to

endlessly spin around since it will tangle the cords.

You can see from the diagram above the base is 35

inch and is made out of wood. Give it a coat of UVprotection before you mount anything on it. First thing you

will do is mount the DC Motor on the base. Then you will


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make a tail piece from a sheet of aluminum, loosely based

on the form presented in the above diagram.

Now you will mount the base on the tower, follow thediagram below for reference.

As you can see from the image above you mount the

base on to the tower 7 inches from the beginning on the

side of the DC Motor. Depending your tower there are

various ways to mount the base. But one thing to keep inmind is that the base should be able to spin 360 degrees

with ease. The easiest way to do this is, if you have a

tower that is from metal, you can weld a bolt on top of it

or a small pipe, than drill a hole through the base and

lubricate the inside of the hole, and place it on top of the

bolt. Just dont forget to secure it from the top so it wont

fly away.

The last thing we are supposed to do is, restrain the

base from spinning more than 360 degrees, because if it


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